Is anyone not completely wrapped up in the GDR updates? I didn’t think so ;)
Jay P. has really busted the start wide open, but now they’ve all been moving awhile it sounds like the effort is starting to really sink in. From his last call in:
Uh, JP here. It’s 7:20 PM, Tuesday, and uh, I just got into Flagg Ranch. And uh, had a decent day. Things are taking shape. Waking up, and taking a long time before I can actually sit down, due to the rear end. And uh, had quite a bumpy ride on that stretch from Island Park, on the railroad bed. And uh, other than that, you know, starting to get hot. The heat’s here. So… Just uh, going OK though. So I’m just clicking away. Feels good to be here in Wyoming. So, just feeling the vibes from everyone that knows I’m here. Alright, I’ll check in with you next time. Thanks.
I can relate to that. He’s on an Orbea hardtail so for sure his butt is taking a beating. There’s no way I’d do the event on a HT but I’m soft. I don’t know the history of this race that well and don’t know if it has ever started this fast (for the leaders). It sure seems like JP is burning a ton of matches early on. The tough part of an aggressive start strategy is backing it down. Everytime I start hard it becomes a “go till ya blow” event.
I put together a couple of overview maps with the names of the towns from the ACA GD stage overview maps. It helps a bit when trying to get context between the reports and the actual locations of the riders.
Here’s the northern half.
The southern half. KMC and GLR route included for perspective. Geez…
Rock on riders!
Late edit: Doh! Of course I should have known Scott would have a GPX available for this beast. That means we get to check out a profile too. Lot’s of spikes riding this Great Divide route.
